Heidi McDowell: Road Trip and Stan Washburn: Museum Perspectives July 23, 2011

July 23 to August 21, 2011 at ArtZone 461 Main Gallery

ArtZone 461 Gallery is happy to announce "Road Trip" a new exhibition of paintings by gallery artist Heidi McDowell, photo-documenting her various car trips through the Western United States. The side gallery presents recent paintings by Stan Washburn whose work draws from daily life, with adjustments: His interiors, for example, seldom represent any real place.

McDowell explores our contemporary relationship to the landscape as shaped by digital media and car culture. She incorporates digital artifacts, dust on a lens, car window reflections and other 'aberrations' found in photographic source materials, thus celebrating the way these otherwise unwanted mistakes highlight the colors and textures of the natural world.

Her goal is not solely to reproduce photographs. McDowell says, "Oil painting has its own "artifacts" and unpredictable process-related effects that bring more life to the image. Rough painterly marks are often enough to indicate detail. Combined, the digital and painterly effects clarify and enhance the experience of seeing, allowing us to slow down and take a longer look."

Stan Washburn says that his work is drawn from daily life, but with adjustments. "I notice the parts of the world that suggest formal elements that intrigue me -certain patterns of light and dark and color, certain surfaces and textures and brushstrokes." A gentle humor the artist finds appealing is shared by a portrayal of nude gallery-goers, but in the context of art it makes a sort of sense.

Washington believes the potential for art is everywhere, but some subjects are more engaging than others. "These predispositions and their technical expression are what constitute style: the part of the process that an artist doesn't rethink each time. Style comes from personality and experience-from history, from ancestors. It all gets very tangled and complex. If it were less so, the results would be much less interesting."

Reception for the artist Saturday July 23, 5:00 - 8:00 pm

Gallery Hours: 12-6 pm Wednesday-Sunday, occasional evenings, anytime by appointment

Official Website: http://artzone461.com